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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2003)
Sci-Tech: Flexing metal muscles • Page 3A NATIO E BATTALll tyeaf Opinion: Remembering 9-i -j • p a g e THE BATTALION ServistS Volume 110 • Issue 10 • 14 pages A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893 www.thebattaIion.net have seen a scf| otal number: s and Nation-; i active duty ts and guards-; 5 131,996 Thursday, September 11, 2003 ■! 12;; department I Array offi. to mdiialc 2 ige of ptilio I be extendr:! y goal of up': | tq.” Myers J ieir mobfe! uion timefnl they'll (bei* extra tuxidj Lied during nation at win lore, at leasti| tuir reservevl <1. inom nissiles reptt'. Ass. chief et | Co. in NewVi: nalysts said,i!i now expect;': : at faster rate huge bone- investment nei ng to expandi 1 demand k? .'tit and conss ler inflation:: capacity, d higher into c growth, sible path fot ; aily, head off 's Council is also question ment in Iraq- st will cover 1 :h begins Oct. ons are be; i, chief econo® i't think an; ; of the coir i in Iraq.” | Fast! ink r 20 year: uries xk Injuries; 7802 • t )! I Two years later Former students witness WTC terror By Tori Foster THE BATTALION A loud explosion from the North Tower of the World Trade Center shocked former Texas A&M student Morriss Hurt out of his normal Tuesday morning routine on Wall Street. He looked up to see a fire ball shoot out from the building and began to search for cover as glass rained down on him. As Americans remember the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001, Hurt and other Aggies residing in New York, look back and remem ber the tragedy as well as their Aggie family that helped them through this time of terror in their lives. "After I heard the explosion, the ground level of the tower began to explode and I didn’t know what it was. Then, car alarms began to go off and car windows shattered," Hurt said. "I ran across the street under a construction scaffolding. There was a man sitting on the street injured and in shock. I got him up and found a police officer to ask for help.” Hurt was speaking with the police officer when he heard the second plane hit the South Tower. - “I didn’t know original ly that it was a plane, though foul play did enter my mind. As soon as the second plane hit I knew it wasn’t just a mere acci dent,” Hurt said. Hurt then began to search for a phone to call his parents in Texas to let them know that he was OK. “As I was trying to find a phone, I felt some thing like an earthquake JERRY TORRENS • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KATHY WILLENS • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Above: A woman reacts to a third explosion of the World Trade Center towers while observing from the Brooklyn Promenade, which pro vides a view of the Manhattan skyline, Tuesday, Sept. 1 1, 2001, in New York. Left: Smoke and debris erupt from the South Tower of the World Trade Center as it explodes after two jets crashed into the build ings Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, in New York. as the South Tower fell,” Hurt said. When the streets around the World Trade Center were closed for cleanup and rescue for two and a half weeks many people who lived in the near vicinity such as Hurt, were left with out a place to live. It was during these difficult times that rescue came to Hurt in the form of another Aggie. “I didn't have anything but the clothes on my back and my briefcase,” Hurt said. “A friend of mine, Peyton Mayes, who is also an Aggie, put me up in his living room for a week. Since the apart ments in New York aren’t very spacious I really ippreciated that he let me stay with him.” The nation was brought together by tragedy in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Aggies in New York were no exception. “We were friends before 9-11, but like the rest of New York, the dreadful event drew us together,” Hurt said. “Community'ahd New"' York are not normally in the same sentence. You just don't normally see people on the street smil ing and saying ‘howdy.’ But everything changed when this happened.” Through such a trying time, Hurt relied on his fellow Aggies and church as his safety net. See WTC on page 8A Stars and stripes JOSHUA HOBSON • THE BATTALION Junior rangeland ecology and management major and member of Parsons Mounted Calvary, Jeff Heifrin folds the 6-by-10 foot main flag in front of Williams Administration Building Wednesday at dusk. Flags at the Academic and Administration Buildings will fly at half-staff today in remem brance of the second anniversary of Sept. 11. MSC to honor Sept. 11 victims By Sarah Szuminski THE BATTALION The Memorial Student Center, and Texas A&M student leaders will host a ceremony of remembrance today in honor of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Two years ago today at 8:45 a.m., hijacked passenger jet, American Airlines flight 11 out of Boston, crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A second hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, struck the South Tower 18 minutes later. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and by 10:30 a.m. both towers had collapsed. The day of remembrance will begin with Albritton Tower tolling at 8:40 a.m., and a ceremony in the MSC Flag Room that is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. “It’s important for students to remember the tragedy that happened and how it affected our lives,” said Student Body President Matt Josefy. Jofifify. MSC Counci 1 President Elizabeth Dacus, international Student Association President Julio Jana and Associate Provost Mark H. Weichold will speak briefly at the cer emony, which will feature the Corps Honor Guard and Singing Cadets. Refreshments will be available in the Flag Room prior to the ceremony. Jana, a native Brazilian, said he plans to share his experience after Sept. 11 from an international stu dent’s perspective. “Many international students had an overwhelming feeling of sharing that moment with local students,” he said. In the wake of the attacks, local students began asking students from other nations about their cultures, Jana said. Many members of the community offered to open their homes to international students who felt threatened. “Overall. 1 believe the community had a great response,” Jana said. Unity March will follow at noon, starting in the Flag Room and winding through the Academic Plaza before returning to the MSC, Josefy said. The Corps of Cadets will remem ber victims of the attacks with “Echo Taps,” a ceremony similar to Silver Taps that typically honors cadets who pass away during the year, said Corps Public Relations officer Justin Woods. Echo Taps will be held on the quad at 10:30 p.m. tonight, and all of the student body is welcome. See MSC on page 2A Increased TEEX funds reflect demand for disaster training By Bart Shirley THE BATTALION The Texas Engineering Extension Service, which houses Texas A&M’s National Emergency Rescue and Response Training Center, has received $157 million in funding since Sept. 11, 2001, up from $11.7 million prior to that date. “What Sept. 11 did was increase the demand for (TEEX) courses,” said Charles Todd, director of domestic preparedness TEEX. “It gave us a sense that this was noth ing to be taken lightly.” Created in 1998, the emergency response training center was formed to train police, fire fighters, hazardous materials officers, city managers and others involved in public works from across the nation to handle emergencies more professionally and efficiently. The center offered classes and courses to assist local gov ernments in their preparation. The mission was clear and simple, and it established TEEX as a leader in the emergency preparedness field. “A&M has been a pioneer in homeland security, filling a critical need in emergency response training,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. Everything changed on Sept. 11. The focus of the organization shifted to the train ing of personnel for response to chemical, biological and other terrorist attacks. This year, as part of its ongoing grant through the Department of Homeland Security, the train ing center received a grant for $31.4 million. Last year, the grant totaled $15.2 million. “The grant went up,” said Bill May, : asso ciate director of TEEX. “We have $5 million extra for training. The technical assistance budget went up $11 million because we are now the prime provider (of technical assis tance) to jurisdictions in the United States.” TEEX has three primary arms: national, which encompasses the training center; state, which encompasses the Texas Response Team, who trains at Disaster City, an apparatus that allows instructor to simulate almost every form of disaster; and its response role, which is the maintaining of Texas Task Force One, a group which assisted at Ground Zero in New York. The training center is part of a larger national body, called the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, which is a group of five locations that each researches and trains personnel in a particular aspect of homeland security. The demand increase is as dramatic as the increase in funding. Prior to Sept. 11, only 95 jurisdictions in the United States assessed themselves and made use of TEEX’s advis ing services. Now, 900 jurisdictions have received TEEX training regarding terrorism. “When you dissect who responds, it’s typi cally local (personnel) because that’s where it happens,” May said. “People really want to take advantage of what we have. It’s an oppor tunity to spread the vitality of Texas A&M.” NERRTC Training Budget TEEX increased training funds after Sept. 11. - - $ 3.5 million in 2000 “ - $ 5.2 million in 2001 --$15 million in 2002 RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION SOURCE: TEXAS ENGINEERING EXTENSION SERVICE Students protest TS service changes Ltaniui By Esther Robards-Forbes, Sarah Szuminski & Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Southside garage permit holders received an e-mail Tuesday informing them that Transportation Services plans to sell an unan nounced number of additional permits to the facility, creating a parking free-for-all in a garage that currently offers Southside residents reserved spaces. TS Director Rodney Weiss was scheduled to give a presentation to the Student Senate Wednesday to discuss recent parking changes but did not show. About 20 students were turned away before the meeting began, disappointed that Weiss was not present to hear their complaints. “No one was contacted in our office,” said Speaker of the Senate Matthew Wilkins. “The suspicion is that (Weiss) was not here because he didn’t want to answer questions.” One angry permit holder, junior Amy Bronowitz, waited patiently until the 2-hour meeting concluded to discuss her frustrations with student leaders and TS representative Chris Owens. “They think it’s reasonable to double-book spaces, but I think leaving campus is reason able,” she said. “We pay a first-rate price for a second-rate service.” Permit holders currently pay $390 for a 24- hour guaranteed space in the garage, but TS’ new plan will reduce customers to fighting for a place to park. “By removing the requirement to park in a specific space within the garage, this conven ience, shelter and safety can be offered to a number of other customers in our Aggie fami ly,” said Transportation Services officials in the Southside Garage Stats: Transportation Services plans to oversell garage permits and take away reserved spaces. q Southside garage permits cost $390. ^ Red lot residence hall permits cost $141. The Southside garage has 1,974 spaces. More than 500 customers ® are waiting for a Southside garage permit. IPJW Senator proposes return of Southwest Conference See Changes on page 7A ANDREW BURLESON • THE BATTALION SOURCE: TRANSPORTATION SERVICES PHOTO COURTESY; WWW.TAMU.EDU By Sonia Moghe THE BATTALION The Southwest Conference may return if Texas Sen. Kim Brimer can get pennission from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to conduct a study determin ing if Southwest Conference restora tion would benefit smaller schools. The SWC athletic contract between Texas A&M, the University of Texas, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Rice University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University and the University of Houston dissolved in 1994 because of differing budgets between the bigger and smaller schools within the conference. It was later replaced by the Big 12 Conference which includes A&M, UT, Texas Tech, Baylor, the University of Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, Nebraska, Iowa State and Missouri. The formation of the Big 12 left the remaining four Texas universities — SMU, TCU, Rice and Houston — with the task of finding another conference to join. SMU and Rice joined the Western Athletic Conference while Houston and TCU opted for Conference USA. See Conference on page 2A